244 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



agreement designating them as an international 

 Microbiological Resource Center, under the 

 auspices of UNESCO and the United Nations 

 Environment Programme / International Cell 

 Research Organization Panel on Microbiology 

 (see ch. 10). Such an agreement would not have 

 been possible if the University of Hawaii had 

 not obtained USAID funding. 



Private Collections 



The best microbial resource reference collec- 

 tion in the United States is maintained by the 

 American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). 

 ATCC is a national nonprofit repository for 

 medical, industrial, and agricultural microbial 

 germplasm, as well as a national and interna- 

 tional repository for patented microbes. Its col- 

 lection of approximately 36,000 strains includes 

 bacteria, fungi, clamydiae, rickettsiae, pro- 

 tozoans, algae, cell lines, and viruses. Although 

 its holdings are smaller and it charges for each 

 culture sent, actual distributions from ATCC 

 far exceed those of the government-sponsored 

 NRRL (24). Of the U.S. collections of more than 

 30,000 accessions, only ATCC distributes a 

 catalog. 



Many collections are also held for specific 

 purposes by U.S. corporations or universities. 

 These are usually personal collections of indi- 

 vidual scientists and may receive little or no 

 direct financial support. Private specialized 

 microbial collections, like their counterparts 

 in universities, usually begin as personal col- 

 lections accumulated and maintained over a 

 career. Although typically holding a limited 

 number of microbial genera, they are unequaled 

 for taxonomic detail and are an important facet 

 of the total microbial diversity conservation 

 effort. 



The Frankia culture collection, for example, 

 held at the Battelle-Kettering Laboratory in Yel- 

 low Springs, OH, began as a personal commit- 

 ment by one scientist to isolate and culture 

 frankiae, the symbiotic actinomycetes of some 

 nitrogen-fixing plants (24). This internationally 

 respected collection is not supported by an insti- 

 tutional commitment or extramural funding 

 and thus depends on the dedication and re- 



sourcefulness of its curator. When a curator 

 leaves a company, or when business consider- 

 ations force redirection of that person's efforts, 

 a specialized collection like this can be lost. 



The costs of maintaining a collection pose 

 significant constraints for commercial collec- 

 tions. In fact, recordkeeping and distribution 

 expenses are important factors in many cor- 

 porate decisions not to make materials from 

 their collections generally available (24). Spe- 

 cialized collections are vulnerable to deterio- 

 ration if funding cannot be obtained for their 

 upkeep. For commercial collections such as 

 ATCC, cultures must be maintained on a no- 

 loss basis. Accessions that are not requested 

 or used frequently and have no current intrin- 

 sic value may be discarded. 



Quarantine 



Maintaining biological diversity frequently 

 involves the importation of foreign materials 

 to increase the available genetic base for crop 

 and livestock species or for offsite maintenance 

 in zoos, botanic gardens, or arboretums. Quar- 

 antine regulations are designed to prevent ac- 

 cidental introduction by imports of exotic pests 

 and diseases that could be harmful to U.S. agri- ,, 

 culture. For both plants and animals, quaran- l| 

 tine procedures are a combination of regula- 

 tory requirements controlling importation and u 

 distribution of germplasm and inspection or 

 testing procedures designed to detect pests and 

 diseases (for specific testing methods, see chs. 

 6 and 7). Regulations, administered by the 

 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

 (APHIS) of USDA, have been viewed by some 

 as restrictive with regard to importation of new 

 genetic diversity (34,45). 



Quarantine regulations classify both plant 

 and animal germplasm ranging from materi- 

 als considered to be of low risk of carrying dis- 

 ease organisms to those prohibited entry due 

 to the extreme hazard they pose of introduc- 

 ing disease. Rice is prohibited from all coun- 

 tries and sorghum from many countries— 

 except for germplasm that may enter under a 

 USDA permit specifying the safeguard condi- 

 tions, which often result in extensive delays. 



